According to the 1860 census, John and Nancy owned $700 of real estate and $250 of personal property. A farm hand, Isaac Hardison (born 1842 in Kentucky) was living with them. By the 1870 census, their real estate was valued at $2500 and they owned $400 of personal property.

This indenture made and entered into the 2nd day of July 1873, between William Harper of the county of Clinton State of Ky and J R Page of the county of Cumberland and same state, Witnesseth that for and in consideration of Twenty five hundred dollars in hand paid the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged. I the said Wm Harper have this day sold unto JR Page a certain tract of land lying in Clinton and Cumberland Counties on Illwill Creek [next page] and bounded as follows. To wit. Beginning on a white oak running due South 72 P [poles; each pole was 16.5 feet]. to a beech three poles east of a large cave spring thence South 7 W 52 P to two beeches thence N 48 E 144 P to a beech and white oak,thence N 6 W 205 P to a white oak thence up a branch N 20 W to Granville Campbells corner on the bank of a willow spring to a beech and maple thence with a line of said Campbell to the beginning -- Supposed to be one hundred and eighty acres to have and to hold the title to said above described tract of land unto the said Page with all the improvements thereon with covenant of general warranty. Given under my hand this day and date as above written.William Harper and Mahala P. Harper.State of Kentuckyby Wm Harper
County of CumberlandI L.A.Waggener clerk of the county court in and for the county and State aforesaid do hereby certify that the foregoing Deed from Wm Harper to JR Page was produced to ML Harris ??? ???? deputy as per endorsement on the 2nd day of July 1873 and acknowledged to be his act and deed for the purposes therein named and acknowledged and right to dower relinquished by Mahala P Harper his wife whereupon the same has been truly entered of record in my office in Deed Book T Page 415.
Given under my hand this 17th day of September 1878. L.A. Waggener Clerk

His grave was one of only a few that had a legible tombstone in 2011. Old Seminary Cemetery is small, maybe 0.25 acres, about 600' south of Hwy 90 (Albany Road) along Illwill Creek Road near the Cumberland and Clinton County line.

On 6 November 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th President of the United States. He declared during the campaign that "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free..." Almost immediately and in response to that declaration, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Within two months, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed suit, and by February 1861 they formed the Confederate States of America. On 12 April 1861, the Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina-the Civil War, the War of the Rebellion, had begun. A few days later Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina also seceded. Kentucky was a border state between the Union and the Confederacy. In late 1860, Kentucky had officially proclaimed its neutrality despite the fact that slavery was lawful, and through most of the early days of the conflict, including the first battle of Bull Run in July, both the North and South respected the Commonwealth's stance. In September 1861, however, Confederate troops moved north from Tennessee into Columbus because of its strategic importance to river and rail traffic. Almost immediately, Union forces under command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant moved south from Illinois to Pudacah for the same reason. The population was torn between loyalties and both the Union and Confederacy began recruiting Kentuckians for the war.

In Cumberland County, men volunteered into both armies. A local Burkesville man, Colonel David R. Haggard, organized the Union's 5th Kentucky Cavalry in the Cumberland County seat during fall 1861 through February 1862. The volunteer ranks quickly swelled to 789 other men from Cumberland County, including John R. Page. The record is inconsistent; John Page enrolled on either 2, 4, or 12 October 1861. He was assigned to Captain John Q. Owsley's Company C. The Muster Roll indicates he "...owned his horse & horse equipment since from 2nd Oct 61...".

In early December, the Union's Kentucky Fifth was still in Kentucky, and fears of impending invasion by the Confederates had them anxious. The Rebels had crossed the Cumberland River and were advancing on Somerset and Rowena, east of Columbia and Burkesville. Union forces were concerned that the Confederate troops would advance on the Union's 11th Brigade Headquarters in Columbia (the 11th was part of the Army of the Ohio's 5th Division). On 10 December, Brigadier General George H. Thomas, who just a week earlier had been assigned to command the 1st Division of Major General Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, was advised that the Union forces at Columbia were decimated by sickness. Colonel Haggard moved a portion of his force toward Rowena to intercept the Rebels. On 12 December, Thomas is advised that Brigadier General Jeremiah Tilford Boyle at headquarters had sent out scouts in the direction of Edmonton (southwest), Glasgow (west), Greensburg (northwest), and Cumberland (east) to determine if the Confederates were moving on Columbia. It may have been that Captain Owsley was part of that scouting effort, because Owsley and his Company C were near Mt. Gilead Church, on the grounds of what had been Camp Knox. This was along the main route from Columbia to Greensburg in Green County, just west of the line with Adair County. [This camp was established in 1770 by Colonel James Knox who had led a group of "Long Hunters", so named because their hunting expeditions lasted several years in the wilderness; the location of this former camp was midway between Columbia (about 30 miles north of Burkesville), county seat of Adair County, and Greensburg, county seat of Green County. Subsequently, this area is referenced in the pension files of John Page as Mt. Gilead, Green County, Columbia, and Adair County.]

On 12 December, Captain Owsley set his pickets in order to receive advanced warning of any Confederate approach. Corporal John R. Page was on picket duty when his horse pulled down a rail from a fence. When Corporal Page bent over to untie the horse's lead from the rail, his pistol slipped from his pocket, struck a rail, and discharged into his chest. No doubt the already jittery men in his company rushed to see what had happened, and carried the bleeding and severely injured volunteer back to camp. It's likely the field surgeon quickly noted that the ball entered the thorax between the third and fourth ribs, about an inch and a half to the right of the sternum. The ball passed through his lung to the underside of the right scapular, where it became lodged. Surgical skills of the day prevented any attempt to remove the ball.

Corporal Page probably spent the next few weeks recuperating, hearing, along with his comrades, of Lincoln's General War Order No. 1, issued on 31 January 1862, that called for Union forces to begin advancing on the Confederate States of America. It's not clear if Corporal Page traveled with the rest of Company C for its official mustering in at Gallatin, Tennessee on 31 March, but the Muster-in Roll seems to indicate he did.

No doubt the buzz around camp in Gallatin was the battle earlier in March between the Confederate Ironclad "Merrimac" the Union Ironclad "Monitor", signaling the end of the wooden battleship. A week after mustering, the troops were probably either shocked, or amazed, or incensed to hear of the Battle of Shiloh, were Major General Ulysses S. Grant's unprepared troops were surprised by a Confederate attack from across the Tennessee River-more that 23,000 men were killed or wounded in the fight. Union officers must have known then that the fight was serious, and realized that Corporal Page was unfit for further service.

On Saturday, 19 April, John R. Page received his "Certificate of Disability for Discharge", which stated that Corporal Page "was enlisted on the 4th day of October 1861, to serve 3 years; he was born in Cumberland County in the State of Kentucky is 28 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches high, dark complexion, dark eyes, dark hair, and by occupation when enlisted a Farmer. During the last two months said soldier has been unfit for duty 60 days." "Discharged this 19 day of April 1862, at Nashville Tennessee" by Colonel David R. Haggard of the Kentucky 5th Cavalry.

John returned to his farm near the line between Cumberland and Clinton counties, probably near Willis Creek northeast of Burkesville in the area where his father-in-law, Thomas Radford, resided. From his home, he probably heard about General Robert E. Lee assuming command of the Confederate forces in June, the second Battle of Bull Run in August, and Lee's assault on Union forces at Antietem, Maryland, in September. During that fight, where General George Brinton McClellan's troops stopped Lee's forces, 26,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. Perhaps John and Nancy were pleased to hear Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in September, but worried about the bloody Union loss at Fredericksburg, Virginia in early December. But then again, maybe they had their minds on other matters in early December. Their fourth child, Martha, was born on 8 December with the help of Sally Este, a midwife.

With the start of the new year, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation. After Fredericksburg, good news for Union forces was hard to find; in May 1863 the Confederate forces were victorious at Chancellorsville, Virginia, although Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded. Soon though, the tide started to shift toward the Union. During the first 4 days of July, Union forces defeated the "Rebs" at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and General Grant accepted a Confederate surrender at Vicksburg, Mississippi—this split the Confederacy in two. Although the Rebels responded with a victory at Chickamauga in northern Georgia, the Union ended the year by defeating the Confederates at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In May 1864 the Union forces began a massive, coordinated attack on the Confederates. Grant began advancing toward Richmond, Virginia, whereas Major General William Tecumseh Sherman began moving from the west toward Atlanta. Sherman reached Atlanta by July and by September his forces captured this southern stronghold. Although the citizens of Cumberland County exercised their civic duty and voted on Tuesday 8 November to help determine the next President of the United States (Lincoln was re-elected), Nancy and John may or may not have participated. John was still suffering from his wound, and just 8 days later Nancy gave birth to daughter Mary Eva. For the rest of the month, Sherman and his army "March to the Sea", carving a line of destruction 300 miles long and 60 miles wide all the way to Savannah.

In early 1865, the largest remnant of the Confederate force was near Petersburg, Virginia. After a Rebel offensive was quickly routed by Union forces in March, Grant led his force into the Confederate Capital in Richmond. On 9 April 1865, General Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Five days later, President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.—Lincoln died the following day. On 6 December, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by the States, abolishing slavery.

In fall 1866, Corporal John R. Page began the process of applying for his Civil War pension as an invalid. On 22 September, W.G. Hunter, the Examining Surgeon, prepared a "Civil Surgeon's Affidavit to Officer's or Soldier's Disability." In his affidavit, Dr. Hunter, a 24-year-old Irish immigrant who had a practice in Burkesville, described the accidental shooting, the wound, and concluded that John "...suffers in consequence from severe attacks of pyemia coughing, which is produced on the slightest exertion. Partial paralysis of the right arm has also been produced by the wound, which renders that member almost useless." His disability was rated as "three-fourths." On 10 October John submitted his "Invalid Pension Application" at Burkesville, along with an "Officer's Certificate to Disability of Soldier - Invalid Pension." The latter showed that John "...was enrolled into the service of the United States at Burkesville in the State of Kentucky on the 12th day of October A.D. 1861 to serve for the period of three years and was honorably discharged at Gallatin in the State of Tennessee on or about the 19th day of October A.D. 1862." One of his witnesses was Caleb M. Radford, his brother-in-law.

On 25 January 1867, Nancy gave birth to Robert L., the couples sixth child with the help of midwife Minerva Parrish. Soon after, on 4 March 1867, John appeared before L.A. Waggener, the Clerk for the Cumberland County Court, and submitted his affidavit that described the details of his accidental shooting. John signed his name with an "X". Moreover, Captain Owsley also submitted an affidavit. In it, Owsley "declares that this is the identical John Owsley who Dec of 1861 was Captain of Co "C" 5th Regt Ky Vol Cavy that on the 12th of December 1861 John R. Page a Corporal of his company was detailed on picket at or near a place called Mt. Gilead Ch in Green County, Kentucky and that while on picket duty said John R. Page had hitched his horse to a fence the hose pulling down the fence said John R. Page was in the act of putting it up when his revolver fell out of his pocket and striking a rail discharged it the ball entering his breast - These facts I learned from the statements of John R. Page at the time and those of his comrades who were on duty with him. I have no interest in this claim."

This must have sufficed, as John was granted pension certificate number 83,941 at the agency at Louisville, Kentucky, on 2 August 1867. A year later, however, he must have still been waiting for payments, because on 12 Oct 1868 he submitted a "Declaration for Arrears of Pensions" in Cumberland County, again before Mr. Waggener. Beside requesting the back payments, the document states that John is represented by Chipman Hosmer and Company of Washington, D.C.

This apparently got the Bureau of Pensions motivated, and on the first day of February 1869, W.T. Otto, Acting Secretary of the Interior, issued John's pension with the "pay being at the rate of six dollars per month, to commence on the 19th day of April 1862." On 10 May, however, John, now classified as having a "total" disability, submitted his "Application for Increase of Invalid Pension" before Mr. Waggener in Cumberland County. It seems John was not successful in this request. On 4 September 1869, John visited with Dr. Hunter in Burkesville. Hunter recommended increasing John 's pension from $6 per month because the disability was "total" Hunter wrote that "The increased disability is due to the irritation caused by the ball, which from its position cannot be extracted. It produces [?] which causes debility and constitutional symptoms similar to pyemia. The right arm in consequence is of but little use to him. In my opinion the disability is permanent."

On 20 November 1871 tragedy struck the Page family; daughter Mary Eva died and was buried in a small cemetery, just south of the Burkesville to Albany Road, near the border between Cumberland and Clinton counties.

On 12 August 1872, John again visited Mr. Waggener at the courthouse in Burkesville and submitted another "Application for Increase of Invalid Pension." John asked to go from his current $8 per month to the "third grade" because of his disability. On this application, John indicates he lived "on the road leading from Monticello Road to Burkesville & Albany Road, in what is called the 'Seminary'." This was followed by Dr. Hunter submitting another "Examining Surgeon's Certificate" on 14 October. From this point forward, these certificates give John's height, weight, and respiration and pulse rates. At this particular visit, John was 6 feet tall, weighed 125 pounds, had a dark complexion, and a normal respiration and pulse. Hunter states that John's wound makes him "totally helpless" and the doctor recommends that the disability payment be "$18 per month." [Just a note, his weight ranged from 125 to 145 over the years.]

John must have thought this application was successful, because on 30 December 1873 he traveled the 10 miles from his home on Seminary Road east to Burkesville to file yet another "Application for Increase of Invalid Pension." In this application, John states that he was suppose to see an increase to $18 per month commencing on 14 October 1872. He goes on to say that in April 1873, he received notice from the Bureau of Pensions to report to Dr. W.B. Greene, Examining Surgeon. On 9 June, John was examined by Dr. Greene in Tompkinsville, Monroe County, Kentucky. For some reason, Greene stated that John was only entitled to $8 per month. Subsequently, on 16 September, his pension was reduced from $18 to $8 per month. On 4 October, John again visits Dr. Hunter in Burkesville. Hunter notes that the embedded ball is "causing a troublesome cough, with a paralytic condition of the right arm" and recommends a disability payment of $18 per month. So, on 30 December, John's application for increase states the following: "What great injustice has been done him and he respectfully submits evidence herewith and asks that he be referred to some impartial Examining Surgeon for examination, that he is incapable from earning his subsistence by manual labor and his disability is equal to the loss of a hand or foot." John hired a Louisville attorney, J.M.? Rook, to represent him. That same day, D.R. Haggard and R. Alexander submitted a supporting joint affidavit. [I believe this was Dr. David R. Haggard and Dr. R.M. Alexander; both lived in Burkesville. I also believe that Colonel Haggard and Dr. Haggard were the same individual; interestingly, he fought for the Union and owned 7 slaves (what looks like a family) in 1860.]

Despite this, John was still receiving only $8 per month when he visited Dr. Hunter on 6 May 1874 in Burkesville. Again, Hunter writes that the ball causes "constant irritation of the right lung, producing a constant cough with bloody [spula?] and at times profuse hemorrhaging from that lung, rendering him [?] for any kind of employment. The malady is permanent..." and recommends a disability payment of $18 per month. Additional visits in October 1874 and September 1875 showed John's condition was the same, as was his monthly pension payment: $8.

On 23 July 1877, John's pyemia, a systemic infection, finally took his life. He was buried in the small cemetery near his daughter Mary.

On 6 October 1877, the widow Nancy traveled to Burkesville and visited Mr. Waggener at the courthouse. She recorded several documents. One was her "Widow's Application for Army Pension." Here she "further declares that she was married to the said John R. Page in the County in the year 1856; and that her name before her said marriage was Nancy W. Radford that her husband the aforesaid John R. Page died on the day above mentioned [23rd day of July A.D. 1877] and that she has remained a widow ever since..." Nancy also indicates her attorney is J.L. McFarland of Washington, D.C. She also submitted this affidavit: "State of Kentucky, County of Cumberland. On this 6th day of Octo A.D. 1877, before me L.A. Waggener, a clerk within and for the County and State aforesaid personally came and appeared Nancy W. Page, aged 41 years, a resident of the county of Cumberland in the State of Ky who being by me duly sworn according to law, on oath declares that she is the widow of John R. Page, dead who was late Corporal Co "C" 5th Ky Cavalry Vols in the war of 1861 who died the 23rd day of July 1877 - from the effects of a gun shot wound in the chest, while in the service of the United States in the line of duty near Columbia, Kentucky - and for which he was placed upon the pension roll list of the U.S. drawing his said pension at the Louisville, Ky Agency - at the rate of eight dollars per month as per certificate no 83941, dated 25th January 1873. That said soldier died leaving two children under the age of sixteen years - to wit, Martha A. Page born Dec 8"-/62 & Robt L. Page born January 25"/67 - that she cannot produce the affidavit of the midwife as to the date of birth of Martha A. because said midwife is dead, as the next best evidence she furnishes the affidavit of Susan Glidewell who was present at the time of said child's birth." She signed her affidavit with an "X."

Susan Glidewell and Minerva Parrish submitted affidavits on 11 and 12 October, respectively. Glidewell claimed she assisted Sally Estes, now dead, with the delivery of Martha on 8 December 1862, whereas Parrish attested that she was midwife when Robert was born on 25 January 1867. On 27 October, T.P. Haggard, a mere 25 years old, claimed he was the attending physician for John for 6 years. He also stated the cause of John's wound, and that the wound "discharged its contents in the thoraxic cavity producing pyemia from which he died July 23rd 1877." [I suspect this was Thomas P. Haggard, son of Dr. D.R. Haggard.]

Sometime in this process, Nancy also submitted transcriptions of her marriage board, license, and certificate. These documents are interesting in that each clearly states Nancy W. Radford was intending to, and did marry, John R. Page alias Dicken on 7 February 1856 at the home of her father, Thomas Radford, in Cumberland County by Gideon Pharis. With all the paperwork in place, Nancy was Widow Pension 179,713.

Presumably for 10 years all went smoothly with the Bureau of Pensions. Although it's not clear why, perhaps he courted the widow Page unsuccessfully, Samuel Mackey sent a letter to Bureau of Pensions on 14 October 1887. He writes: "Mr. John C. Black. Sir, as you our a commissioner of Pensions and yore duty to attend to such business I wish to in form you that I know of some fraud claims according to the law or as I under stand it and if you will send me some blanks to have some witnesses swaren I will send them back to you filled out and swarn to by some one of authority to swar the witnesses to the affidavits. Any soldier that is entitled to a Pension claim I am in favor of him having it tho if he is not intitled to a claim he ought to be reported and his claim stoped and if you think so send me the blanks and I will return them as soon as posibel to you. So I will close hoping to her from you soon. Yores verey respectfully, Samuel Mackey." He followed that with another letter on 5 November 1887, writing: "Mr. John C. Black. Sir, I drop you a few lines concerning the widow N.J. Page Pension claim. J. R. Page the soldier claimed Pension for a gun shot wound in the top part of the shoulder or brest and to some trubel. You call upon John Grady he was the Physician that waited on him the last part of sickness and his post office address is Columbia, Ky and he is the cherman of the examining surgeon of the [?] at Columbia Ky and he will inform you the case of his death."

Understandably, this got the interest of the Bureau of Pensions, and the Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Pensions, Wm. E. McLean, instructs Special Examiner A.F. Burnley to take a deposition from Dr. John H. Grady in Columbia. [Apparently Black had been named Commissioner months earlier but had not yet assumed office.] In that 12 December 1887 deposition, Dr. Grady describes visiting a Robert Page in Clinton County in 1877 and then describes Page's cirrhosis of the liver as cause of death. Grady indicates the examiner should contact Dr. Pickens in Clay County, Tennessee, to collaborate this statement. Commissioner John C. Black instructed Special Examiner John M. Thompson to meet with Dr. S.K. Pickens in Celina, Clay County. On 16 April 1888, Thompson did just that, and Pickens collaborated Grady's word-Pickens stated he had no knowledge of any gun shot wound.

In late May 1888, the widow Page was dropped from the pension rolls based "... on testimony obtained by the Special Examiners showing [?] cause of death was cirrhosis of liver caused by excessive use of alcoholic liquids." Fortunately, Legal Reviewer Dickey and Re-reviewer Harrington realized the confusion over names and events and on 2 October 1888 reversed that decision, and by 5 January 1889 the suspension was removed.

Another 17 years would go by until Nancy Page had contact with the Bureau of Pensions. On 18 September 1916, Nancy, in apparent response to a change in the pension law, penned this letter: "Pauls Valley Okla. Sept 18, 1916. To the Commissioner of Pensions - Washington D.C. - I am entitled to an enceas of Pension under the first clause of the new Pension Law. My husbands name was John R. Page. His service was in the 5 Fifth Rigt of Kentucky Co C. He was a corporal During his Service. My name is Nancy W. Page. The number of my certificate is 179713. I am 80 years old was baurnd in Cumberland County Kentucky June the 23, 1836. My address is Pauls Valley Okla R#2#Box 61."

Almost a year later, on 22 November 1917, Nancy died. The next day, her son, Robert, spent $50 to purchase her casket at Garner and Newbern - Hardward, Furniture, and Undertaking - Implements and Harness. She was buried on 7 December at Byars Cemetery in nearby McClain County, Oklahoma. On 24 February 1918, her son, Robert L. Page, wrote the Department of the Interior: "Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. Gentlemen, my mother who was Nancy W. Page died 22 Dec 1917. Check No 179713 balance [?] an last check was one month twenty two days. Kindly look this up & let me know. & ablige R.L. Page Pauls Valley Okla." On 5 March 1918 the official paperwork was processed dropping her from the pension rolls, repeating the erroneous date of death that Robert had included in the letter: 22 December.

On 12 March 1918, Robert went to the Clerk of Garvin County, Oklahoma to complete an "Application for Reimbursement" for Nancy's funeral expenses. The Clerk had terrible handwriting and spelling abilities. The application states that Nancy died on 22 November 1917. At the time of her death, she had $40 cash, which was all used for "berell expenses." The cause of her death was an "acidentel faul" on 16 November 1917. She was living with her son, R.L. (Robert), 4 miles south west of Byars, Oklahoma. R.L. sought $75.50; $10 for doctor expenses, $50 for the coffin, $5.50 for the cemetery lot, and $10 for something at Byars. After a couple of letters of clarification between Robert and the Bureau of Pensions, the final reimbursement was sent on 23 May 1918. The final tally showed the Bureau of Pensions approved $12 for physicians' bills, $50 for the casket, $3.50 for the cemetery lot, and $6.25 for her final dress. This total, $71.75, less the $40 she had when she died, plus the $15.83 she had accrued in pension before her death, meant that R.L. received a check for $47.58.

[Information for Dr. Hunter, D.R. Haggard, T.P. Haggard, and R. Alexander, was obtained from the US Census (including the 1860 Federal Slave Schedule and the 1890 Veteran's Schedule) records on Ancestry.com during November 2007.] Sources: [8]